Ron House's opinion piece misguided

I cannot agree with Ron House's opinion piece. House bemoans the fact that federal welfare spending has increased. He fails to mention that in December 2007, we went into the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

The biggest program included in House's definition of "welfare" was the unemployment compensation program that was extended and approved by both parties. The food and nutrition programs he complains about are comprised primarily of the food stamp program and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website, legal immigrants may receive SNAP (food stamp) benefits if they have lived in the United States for five years or receive federal or state disability benefits. Anyone who is not a citizen -- illegal immigrants -- cannot receive SNAP benefits.

I agree with House when he says that we "tacitly approve greed and deviousness in the pursuit of gain." But I would argue that Wall Street bankers who were paid huge bonuses after the bipartisan bailout are the true epitome of greed in this country.

The "Big Oil" companies that make outrageous profits and receive "entitlements" are the real hogs at the trough. The thousands of companies that have shipped millions of jobs overseas, often at the behest of large retailers, are part of the profit-at-any-cost mentality.

I hope House is right when he says that we can rely on "our great capitalist system." But these facts remain: The top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States brought in a total of 10 percent of all income in 1980, but by 2008 that figure had skyrocketed to 21 percent. The wealthiest 1 percent of all Americans now own more than a third of all the wealth in the United States.

Kris Perry

Clyde

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Ron House's opinion piece misguided

I cannot agree with Ron House's opinion piece. House bemoans the fact that federal welfare spending has increased. He fails to mention that in December 2007, we went into the deepest recession since